


the nothing

by skywalkingsolo



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Its kinda shippy if you squint, Memories, The Upside Down, doesnt really follow the plot, i mean it does but its more of a ~creative interpretation~, not really - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-26
Updated: 2016-08-26
Packaged: 2018-08-11 02:35:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 767
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7872637
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skywalkingsolo/pseuds/skywalkingsolo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A one-shot centering around Barb and how she remembers and felt going to the Upside-Down.</p>
            </blockquote>





	the nothing

**Author's Note:**

> i didn't really plan on writing this but we had a practice exam thing in which we had to write a narrative about 'the challenge', and so i had no other ideas except this? who knows anymore
> 
> follow me on tumblr at spocketti.tumblr.com! im always taking requests for fics and drabbles!

There was something unusual in the air on Wednesday. The birds were not chirping the same bright song they always did; one that sounded almost similar to that one Carpenter's song about birds – ironically enough. Instead, they were dead silent. Silent, unmoving, and staring blankly at the ground. The ground on which no ants or other insects moved either. The mounds of dirt no longer stirred with the gentle weight of hundreds upon thousands of pairs of six tiny legs. No rustling of bushes or short, neatly trimmed grass from the beetles. Nothing. It was almost scary, the way the world was so dead silent and still. Not a breeze, not a hum. It was such a difference from the norm, the bustle of day to day life and the people on their commutes. Even the sun, normally rather bright and lustrous in an Indiana summer, was almost... Dull?

Barb Holland just watched from her window, a curious arch to her brow as she pushed her glasses back up the bridge of her nose. Normally by now her mom would've called her down for breakfast. Nancy would've swung by for the bus. A paper would have been tossed onto the lawn by the usual blond paper boy. But now, she was alone. There was nobody. Nothing. And the world only seemed to be getting worse, only darker and darker by the minute. A chill met Barb's skin, and she stepped back from the window, pulling her cardigan closer and closer until it was stretched and taut around her body. Something was definitely amiss, she knew that. But what she didn't know was why.

The last thing she could remember was being with Nancy at Steve Harrington's house. The details were a blur. She remembered being alone at the edge of the pool, while Steve and Nancy were inside. Steve's group of friends were long gone and Barb debated whether or not to hang around. Nancy would eventually need a lift home. All she remembered from that moment was just darkness, and a low growl, almost a rattling noise. Blinding pain, too. But that was last night, or so she thought. She really couldn't determine what day it was anymore. She couldn't remember leaving Steve's house, or what even happened to Nancy in the end.

The redhaired girl picked up her phone, brow still furrowed while she dialed her friend's number. Nothing. No dial tone, no ringing, and only the faintest sound of Nancy's voice on the other end.

“Hello? Who is this?” Nancy spoke into the phone hesitantly, as all she heard was a muffled yell. Her lips pursed as she tried to focus in on what the muttering was saying. “Is this a prank call?”

Barb could barely make out Nancy's voice either. It was equally impossible. Of course she could pick up on the usual singsong bright tone Nancy had, she always could, but the words were unintelligible. “Nance, it's Barb! I need help!”

Nancy sighed, covering up the speaker and calling out to her brother, “Mike? Is this another one of your practical jokes? _God_ , you're such a _challenge_ to put up with.”

Barb didn't even have time to form another mumbled reply to that. Someone was behind her, breathing down her neck, sharp talons on her shoulders. As she turned around to see what it was, she could thing of only one word, from some fantasy novel she remembered reading for class. _Demogorgon_. And, if she remembered correctly, this 'demogorgon' would rarely let their prey survive. Maybe this was what happened to that Byers' boy. But she couldn't know, or tell anyone else. She was stuck here, as the growling increased to a high pitched wail, and her phone dropped to the ground as the ugly faceless being finished her off. Even attempting to escape would be a failed challenge. There was no hope.

Nancy dropped the phone as a sharp jolt of burning lightning hit the phone. No, travelled _through_ the phone. The phone was now blackened and charred and Nancy let out a squeak as her burning hands shook. She just stared.

Barb tried to scream but nothing came out. Now, instead of even just the silence of before, there was nothing. Even more nothing. It was entirely black.

“Nancy, come _on_ , you'll miss the bus,” Nancy heard her mother, Karen, call impatiently, and with a final glance back at the phone's remnants, she yelled out a quick 'I-I'm coming, mom!' and left.

Barb didn't show up to school that day.

Or the next one.

Or the one after that.

Never.


End file.
